128 BIG GAME OF XOllTII AMERICA. 



lot of long limbs. Other trees have a bend in their trunks. 

 When young, the snow has pressed them over so as to per- 

 manently bend the trunks; but they have afterward 

 recovered, and grown straight up. Such cases are numer- 

 ous, and the bend often affords the tired hunter a comfort- 

 able seat. In some places, rhododendrons, laurel, and other 

 shrubs grow abundantly, and afford considerable cover to 

 game. Although open, and easily traversed when one 

 once gets there, this region is difficult to reach, as many 

 miles of rough trail and thick underbrush must be traversed 

 before it is reached. 



It has been several years since I visited this region, and 

 game may not be as j)lentiful there now as then; but I 

 think that, on account of the inaccessibility of the country, 

 the Deer have been but little hunted there. When I was 

 there, one could have killed, had he so wished^ from six to 

 ten Deer almost any day, by simply taking a good stand 

 and shooting them as they came to water. As may be con- 

 jectured, the snow falls to a great depth in this region 

 during the winter. 



I remember once having seen some trees that had been 

 cut off fully thirty feet from the ground, and my guide 

 explained that they had been so cut by a party of prospect- 

 ors who had wintered in this region one season. He said 

 that the snow had fallen to such a depth that it was on a 

 level with the tops of these stumps. I asked him how the 

 occupants of the old cabin which we found in this ravine 

 managed to subsist. He replied that this was easy enough 

 as long as the provisions held out, as they kept a space 

 around the door packed down, and the fire kept an opening 

 through the snow for itself. We may readilj^ fancy the 

 loneliness of such a life, away up in this altitude, with 

 no animal life within miles, and nothing but howling winds 

 and drifting banks of snow to listen to or look at. 



Of course a great deal of this region consists of nothing 



. but rock, but in some i3laces there are patches of soil which 



appear to be very fertile, and in the summer-time these 



spots are made beautiful with shrubs and flowers. I once 



